NEW YORK — It is hard to know what would come as the bigger surprise to the rapper Christopher
Wallace, better known as the Notorious B.I.G., or Biggie Smalls, or Big Poppa.

Surely, he could not have imagined that brownstones on the once-rough streets of Clinton Hill,
Brooklyn — where he was raised and which was the inspiration for much of his music — would now sell
for upward of $4 million.

Or that about 16 years after he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in 1997 at age 24, there
would be an effort to have a corner in that neighborhood named in his honor by the city.

Or that the effort is being blocked by local residents who, among other objections, say that
Wallace was too corpulent to be held up as a role model.

Although a petition to have the corner of Fulton Street and St. James Place named “Christopher
Wallace Way” has 4,000 signatures, some opponents have objected to his “physical appearance” and
charged that his lyrics are misogynistic and argued that his life, including arrests for drugs and
assault, is not worthy of official praise.

“He started selling drugs at 12, he was a school dropout at 17, he was arrested for drugs and
weapons charges, he was arrested for parole violations, he was arrested in North Carolina for crack
cocaine, in 1996 he was again arrested for assault, he had a violent death and physically the man
is not exactly a role model for youth,” Lucy Koteen told community board members at a meeting on
Tuesday, according to DNAInfo.com, which first reported on the controversy.

Wallace, who was 6 feet 3 inches, weighed as much as 380 pounds.

“I don’t see how this guy was a role model, and frankly it offends me,” Koteen said.

Wallace would not be the first person of dubious distinction to have a street named in his
honor.

Over the years, national heroes and local leaders have been honored alongside slave owners and
beer barons.

Since 2002 alone, 1,219 streets in the city have been renamed — many for police, fire and
military officers who died in the line of duty or on Sept. 11. Others included entertainers and
celebrities such as news anchor Peter Jennings, actor Jerry Orbach and rap group Run DMC.

So many streets have been renamed, in fact, that some now carry more than one honorific.

Councilwoman Letitia James, who is expected to win next month’s election for public advocate,
will have to write a letter of support before the Wallace matter can be decided by the council,
which approves all street names.

The case for Wallace, whose murder remains unsolved, is being promoted by Leroy McCarthy, a
Brooklyn resident who wrote the online petition.

“Coming from modest beginnings, the story of Christopher Wallace tells the story of a boy to a
man accomplishing greatness, using words as his tools,” he wrote.